Deformed carrots
bob49
Posts: 2
Almost all of my carrots are deformed this year. I can't find pictures like them anywhere online, and no site addresses the problem. Can you provide any insight? Thanks for your time. Bob Grace The Soil in which these carrots are planted has been sifted and has literally no rocks in it. My garden is on a sprinkler system that has a timer, so it gets watered regularly (possibly too much). I'm wondering if they split when they were young, and then grew more/around the split area. I also mulch quite a bit, and over the winter I leave grass or leaves on the soil so there can be worm activity. I try to get all the non-decomposed organic material off the top before I till the soil for planting. I'm wondering if maybe this deformity is caused by tilling in un-decomposed organic matter that the roots grew next to?? It seems too prevalent for this to be the case.
Last edited: 30 September 2016 04:05:25
Posts
I couldn't seem to upload a picture. I think it was too large a file. Here's a compressed pic.
That's just weird!
H-C
All I can suggest is that a soil-borne pest nibbled them while small and they then grew around the damage once the pest disappeared. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the pest could be but as it seemed to disappear before destroying your carrots completely, would suggest the larvae of some kind of seasonal fly but I'm not sure about the wildlife in Montana. Not carrot fly as damage caused by those is quite different.
I grow carrots in raised beds with an irrigation system. I too have sometimes had carrots that look like this but not all of them. Maybe it is something to do do with the irrigation/water supply?
I had the same problem. Looks like irrigation -https://plantdiseasehandbook.tamu.edu/food-crops/vegetable-crops/carrot/